Human Development and Human Rights: two decades of advancement, what’s next for children and youth? Agency and participation for enhancing equity

UNDP, through the Human Development Office, and UNICEF in the Dominican Republic are jointly organising an International Conference on “Human Development and Human Rights: two decades of advancement, what’s next for children and youth? Agency and participation for enhancing equity”. The conference will take place in Santo Domingo on the 24^th and 25^th of October 2011.

The Conference will provide a space for the discussion of major benefits and challenges of the integration of Human Rights and Human Development frameworks and their usefulness for designing better policies, programmes and projects directed to children and youth. In particular, the debate will focus on children’s and youth participation and agency, examining their relation with inequity reduction. The conference objectives are thus:

• To gain a better understanding of the conceptual relation between Human Development and the Human Rights paradigm as applied to children and youth, with a focus on the concepts of participation, agency and equity. 
• To integrate both paradigms in order to produce better analyses of children wellbeing and translate it in more effective public policies, programmes and projects for children and youth. 
• To encourage a common space for inter-agency exchange of experiences and knowledge, favoring inter-agency cooperation.

Academics, experts and technicians are strongly encouraged to present findings from completed or ongoing field research or theoretical papers. At the same time, the conference programme will rely on special guests and experts invited to enrich the debate. UNICEF and UNDP personnel and interested individuals are welcomed to attend the conference. 

Call for papers 

The conference will consist of plenary presentation sessions of papers presented by experts, followed by discussion sessions. Participants will also engage in a workshop aimed at providing a set of public policy recommendations. The conference is also expected to provide useful theoretical and analytical insights for the preparation of the provincial Human Development Reports in the Dominican Republic. Finally, the conference will provide space for active participation of youth and it will seek to foster a process for strengthening a platform for action of local youth networks and organisations. 

Full Papers: Individuals are welcome to submit theoretical papers, to present findings from completed research or to present ongoing work that raises methodological or conceptual issues. Full papers will be allocated 30 minutes in total including 25 minutes for presentation. Paper can be submitted either in Spanish or English. 

Proposals for full papers should be 250-300 words in length 

Final papers are expected to be around @6000 words in length. 

Submissions for conference papers and discussion topics should be made by email to:  [email protected] 

Deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to 15 August 2011. 

Please, find attached the call for papers and conference description. 

Registration 

Both speakers and general public are welcomed to the conference. UNDP and UNICEF personnel are encouraged to participate in the conference. Every participant is required to pay a registration fee. The registration fee will include refreshments (morning and afternoon) and lunch on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October. 

Rates are as follows: 

For Dominican participants : RDS1,000.00 

For non-Dominican participants: : USD 100 

The deadline for registration is Monday 15 September 2011. 

Accommodation and Travel 

Every participant should provide for his/her travel arrangements and accommodation. Information regarding how to get to the Conference and a list of recommended hotels will be available on UNICEF and UNDP/Human Development Office country website by the end of June.